(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of mounting an electronic component such as a semiconductor device on a wiring board, and particularly to a wiring board (hereinafter also referred to as “package” for the sake of convenience) adapted for effectively bonding an electronic component by using a conductive bump as well as a method of manufacturing the same, and an electronic component device using the wiring board as well as a method of manufacturing the same.
(b) Description of the Related Art
For surface mounting of an electronic component (a chip) such as a semiconductor device on a wiring board (a package), wire bonding, flip chip bonding or the like is used as means for providing an electrical connection between the chip and the package. The wire bonding requires a bonding area (an area having an arrangement of pads for wire connections) around the chip mounted on the package, resulting in the package with a correspondingly large area, while the flip chip bonding is effective in a reduction in size of the package, since this bonding permits mounting of the chip on the package via a conductive bump and thus eliminates the need for the bonding area around the chip.
In an electronic component device of such a flip chip bonding type, the electrical connection between the chip and the package is accomplished by using: one method (namely, bonding using the same metal) that involves providing bumps made of the same metallic material on both the chip and the package, or alternatively providing a metal bump only on the chip, and bonding the chip and the package together with the bumps made of the same metal sandwiched therebetween; or another method (namely, bonding using different metals) that involves providing bumps made of different metallic materials on the chip and the package, respectively, and bonding the chip and the package together with the bumps made of different metals. For example, the bonding using the same metal includes bonding of a solder bump to a solder bump, while the bonding using different metals includes bonding of a copper (Cu) bump to a solder bump, bonding of a gold (Au) bump to a solder bump, and the like.
An example of techniques related to the above-mentioned conventional techniques is disclosed in Japanese unexamined Patent Publication (JPP) (Kokai)11-195676. The technique disclosed in this publication provides a semiconductor chip mounting structure provided with a projection formed in such a position on at least any one of an electrode provided on the surface of the semiconductor chip and an electrode provided on the surface of a circuit board that the projection would come in contact with a conductive bump, the projection being deformable when applied with pressure. Furthermore, another example of the related techniques is disclosed in JPP (Kokai) 2005-354120. The technique disclosed in this publication provides a structure including a semiconductor device having electrodes; a passivation film provided on the surface of the semiconductor device so as to avoid at least the portion of each electrode; a conductive foil provided above the surface having the passivation film formed thereon, with a predetermined space in the direction of thickness therebetween; an external electrode formed on the conductive foil; an interlayer formed between the passivation film and the conductive foil, and configured to support the conductive foil; and wiring that provides an electrical connection between the electrode and the conductive foil. In the interlayer, a concave portion is formed under a region, of the conductive foil, inclusive of a bonding portion bonded to the external electrode, the concave portion having a diameter gradually increasing from the passivation film side to the conductive foil side.
As mentioned above, in the conventional electronic component device of the flip chip bonding type, the electrical connection between the chip and the package is accomplished by the bonding using the bumps made of the same metal, or the bonding using the bumps made of different metals. Generally, such an electronic component device undergoes, prior to shipment, an electrical test on its detailed functions (a product reliability evaluation) with the chip mounted on the package. However, the conventional electronic component device of the flip chip bonding type encounters problems as given below when subjected to such a test for reliability evaluation.
Specifically, the bonding using different metals involves the formation of an alloy layer at the bonding interface between the metals. For example, as shown in FIG. 6A, assuming that the bonding involves: providing solder bumps BP1 (containing tin (Sn) as the main metal) respectively on pad portions 42 (e.g., copper (Cu)/nickel (Ni)/gold (Au) plating layers) exposed from portions of a protection film 41 (e.g., a solder resist layer) of a wiring board 40; providing copper (Cu) bumps BP2 respectively on pad portions 52 (e.g., aluminum (Al) conductor layers) exposed from portions of a protection film 51 (e.g., a passivation film) of a chip 50; and bonding the metal bumps BP1 and BP2 together by melting or the like. In this case, alloy layers (Cu—Sn) BM are formed, respectively, at the bonding interfaces between the metal bumps BP1 and BP2.
The alloy layer BM has the following problems. Because of being generally brittle to thermal stress, the alloy layer BM may possibly break off under a temperature cyclic test (e.g., a test to determine a change in product characteristics caused by repeated cycles of changing temperature within a range from +125° C. to +150° C. and temperature within a range from 40° C. to −65° C.) after chip mounting. In some cases, “break-off” may possibly occur in the alloy layer BM (in a portion indicated by reference BR in FIG. 6A) as shown in FIG. 6A. Also, the alloy layer BM has another problem. When a high-temperature exposure test (e.g., a test in which device test target is left in an environment at a temperature of 150° C. for a given period of time) is performed, heat facilitates the flowing of atoms of metal, thus causing an enlargement of the area of the alloy layer BM, and in turn, an increase in the likelihood of occurrence of break-off.
Description is given with regard to the occurrence of “break-off,” which takes place when the metal bumps BP1 and BP2 made of different metals are used to form a bond between the chip 50 and the wiring board 40, as illustrated in FIG. 6A. However, “break-off” in such a conductive bump can possibly occur likewise even in the case of bonding using the same metal. For instance, if any one of eutectic solder (e.g., made up of tin (Sn) and lead (Pb)) and lead-free solder (e.g., made up of Sn, silver (Ag) and Cu) is used as material for the conductive bump, the same or similar break-off can possibly occur, depending on temperature conditions or testing time, because of distribution of Sn—Pb or Sn—Ag—Cu alloy in the conductive bump, although such a local alloy layer BM as is shown in FIG. 6A is not formed.
In order to cope with such “break-off,” a method using an underfill resin for fixing of the chip to be mounted and the wiring board is widely adopted. FIG. 6B shows an example of the case. As illustrated in FIG. 6B, bumps BP to function as electrode terminals provided on the chip 50 to be mounted (specifically, the pad portions 52 exposed from the protection film 51) are connected by flip chip bonding to the pad portions 42 exposed from the protection film 41 of the wiring board 40. Then, an underfill resin 60 is filled into a gap between the wiring board 40 and the chip 50, and cured in the gap. By this method, the reliability of connection is improved, since the chip 50 and the wiring board 40 are integrally formed via the underfill resin 60.
However, the following problems arise. The method requires a process for filling the underfill resin 60 into the gap between the wiring board 40 and the chip 50, and hence causes problems in an increase of man-hours and a rise in cost. Additionally, as shown in FIG. 6B, baking (heat treatment) which is performed to cure the underfill resin 60 often leads to a shrinkage in the underfill resin 60, so that the wiring board 40 is warped at its edges toward a chip mounting surface, due to the fact that the coefficient of thermal expansion of the underfill resin 60 is different from that of the wiring board 40. Further, delamination of the chip 50 may possibly occur depending on the degree of warp, thus causing deterioration in the reliability of connection.